The Kia EV5 gets its ASEAN debut at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2024.
When it comes to electric vehicles (EVs), Kia has been rolling out really successful models in the West like the EV6 and EV9. However, those EVs have not been selling super well in South East Asia, possibly due to pricing and competition. Kia’s fortunes in this region may change soon with the introduction of the EV5, which was globally debuted at the 2023 Kia EV Day last October and has now been launched in Thailand at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2024.
We’re not sure if the EV5 will be high on Bermaz’s priority list but the package in Thailand looks to be quite promising. It sits on the same E-GMP skeleton as many other Hyundai-Kia EVs and gets Vehicle-to-Load and Vehicle-to-Grid functionality. While it takes inspiration from the larger EV9 (which IS coming to Malaysia), it’s a bit smaller at 4615mm in length, 1875mm in width, and 1715mm in height with a 2750mm wheelbase. In fact, these measurements make it smaller than the EV6. Speaking of the EV6, the EV5 inherits the same heat pump system, regenerative braking with the i-Pedal system, dual 12.3″ display system running the new Unified Graphical User Interface along with a 5″ digital climate control display.
In Thailand, the Kia EV5 is pretty well-priced. There are three variants – Light at 1.249 million baht or RM162K, Air for 1.349 million baht or RM175K or Earth Exclusive AWD for 1.759 million baht or RM227K. The front-wheel drive models come with a 217PS and 310Nm of torque motor and this has a century sprint time of 8.5 seconds. The all-wheel drive version has a dual-motor set up with 313PS and 480Nm of torque, and a 0-100km/h time of 6.1 seconds. The top speed is limited to 185km/h on either set-up.
A 64.2kWh lithium ion battery powers the front wheel drive models and gives them about 490km of range on the WLTP cycle. There’s also an 88.1kWh battery for long-range RWD and Exclusive AWD models that gives them impressive ranges of 665km and 620km respectively. Charging speed is tied to the battery size as well in these models. The 64.2kWh models get 7 kW AC charging and about 10 hours to fully charge. The larger battery gets 11 kW AC charging and takes more than 8 hours to fully charge. DC fast charging speeds are 102kW on the smaller battery and 141kW on the larger one, both getting the battery from 10% to 80% state of charge in 36 minutes. In Thailand, the Kia EV5 comes with a 7 year vehicle warranty, an 8 year battery warranty, and 7 years of free maintenance and roadside assistance.
Would the Kia EV5 be competitive in Malaysia? Yes and no. The high spec model seems to have very impressive range and power while still being competitive against the Tesla Model Y. That being said it’ll still be an uphill battle for Bermaz if they decide to bring this in to sell in any significant volume.
